The Enzymatic Deamination of Amphetamine (Benzedrine)

Part of long series of research articles on the role played in the body by sympathetic amines, in this paper, Axelrod compared the transformation of amphetamine in rabbits to rats, dogs, and guinea pigs. The subject of the article originated in Axelrod's curiosity as to why when amphetamine was administered to rabbits it disappeared entirely. Axelrod found in this article that one or several enzymes in a rabbit's liver deaminated amphetamine, leading to the formation of phenylacetone and ammonia. He also determined that ephedrine was similarly demethylated to norephedrine and formaldehyde by the microsomal drug metabolizing enzymes.